What’s New in Boot Runner 3.3

Command Line Interface

A command line interface has been added to Boot Runner to allow admins to send commands from the command line for Boot Runner operations.

The command line tool is located at:

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Boot Runner.app/Contents/MacOS/bootrunnercli

To get usage on the commands, run bootrunnercli without any arguments:

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Boot Runner.app/Contents/MacOS/bootrunnercli

Usage:
 bootrunnercli -p | -s <device> | -e <device>
 -p: print volume names and devices.
 -s <device>: select device and reboot.
 -e <device>: mark device as efi bootable (Windows only).

-p: Print volume names and devices

The -p option will print the available volumes that are being displayed by Boot Runner. For example:

mdscentral-6:~ tperfitt$ /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Boot Runner.app/Contents/MacOS/bootrunnercli -p
 
 Available Volumes:
 ------------------
 Volume: "Macintosh HD", device:/dev/disk1s1
 Volume: "TestingWindows", device:/dev/disk0s3
 Volume: "LabWindows", device:/dev/disk0s4

Note that any added volumes from the Boot Runner settings are shown here as well.

-s <device>:

The -s option will select the volume and reboot. The <device> argument should be one of the items shown by the option -p output. Once the option is given, the device will be selected and the Mac rebooted. The command must be run as administrator. For example:

mdscentral-6:~ tperfitt$ sudo /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Boot Runner.app/Contents/MacOS/bootrunnercli -s /dev/disk0s3

 Password:
 Selecting volume WindowsDave (/dev/disk0s3) and restarting in 5 seconds. Press control-c to cancel...

Note that if the volume is the local Mac volume, this setting will have no effect.

-e <device>:

The -e option will set the specified Windows volume as the specified Windows partition to boot for the disk the Boot Camp partition is located on. This is only required (and useful) if you have more than one Windows partition on the same physical disk. The command must be run as administrator.

For example:

mdscentral-6:~ tperfitt$ sudo /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/Boot Runner.app/Contents/MacOS/bootrunnercli -e /dev/disk0s4

Boot file (BCD) updated. Next time Windows is selected, /dev/disk0s4 will be booted.

Force BCD Booting of Specified Windows volume for Multiple Installs of Windows on the Same Disk

A new settings key named “ForceBCD” was added to the volume array. For example:

                 <key>VolumeDescriptions</key>
                 <array>
                   <dict>
                     <key>UseVM</key>
                     <string>false</string>
                     <key>VolumeName</key>
                     <string>disk0s3</string>
           
                     <key>ForceBCD</key>
                     <true/>
 
                     <key>VolumeLabel</key>
                     <string>TestingWindows</string>

                     <key>VolumeType</key>
                     <string>0</string>

                     <key>VolumeDescriptions</key>
                     <string>xyzzy</string>
 
                   </dict>
                 </array>

If “ForceBCD” is set to true, the specified Windows volume will be set as the specified Windows partition to boot for the disk the Boot Camp partition is located on. This is only required (and useful) if you have more than one Windows partition on the same physical disk.